ASCE Responds to the I-35W Bridge Collapse

In response to the catastrophic I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, ASCE is playing a significant and proactive role in the review and analysis of one of our nation's tragic infrastructure disasters. Shortly after the collapse occurred, ASCE immediately began to provide technical and authoritative information to the media and has developed a dedicated area on the ASCE website to providing further resources and related information. The website will continue to evolve over the coming days and should serve as an excellent resource to keep members up to date and help in answering any general questions that may be received. ASCE members can take pride in knowing that ASCE and the civil engineering profession continue to play such a key role in understanding and responding to natural and man-made disasters and in improving the resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

New York Company Indicted in Collapse of Big Dig

BOSTON, Aug. 8 — The supplier of the epoxy that federal officials have blamed for the collapse of a Big Dig tunnel was indicted today in the death of a motorist crushed by falling ceiling panels.

The company, Powers Fasteners Inc., was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter. It is the first criminal charge in the tunnel debacle, which killed Milena Del Valle, 38, in July 2006 as she was on her way to the airport. Her death ignited an uproar over the safety of the $15 billion Big Dig, the most expensive single public works project in American history. Story published in the NY Times on August 9, 2007 by Pam Belluck.

3 comments:

Eva Lerner-Lam said...

Noteworthy in this article was the statement released by the company:
"...Powers filled an order for standard set epoxy to be used in the tunnel ceiling and was unaware that fast set was used. The cost of epoxy for the project was $1,287.60, it said. The statement said Powers had informed state officials before the ceiling was installed that fast set had failed a “creep test,” and that when it was called to the tunnel in 1999, a Powers engineer came ready “to do the very test that the N.T.S.B. now states should have been done,” but was not allowed to conduct that test."

Anonymous said...

No matter what they do now isn't going to work....they need to start over and you know that not's going to happen. They need to punish those responsible and stop passing the buck on someone else. They need to stop spending somewhere else and spend where it's needed.

Hopefully something will be done before the whole thing caves in. Would we really trust that it's ok to use after whatever they do?....Not a very good feeling.
That poor family really needs to be taken of.

Anonymous said...

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